I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an accessory for a fishing rod or pole, and more particularly to a protective cover for an assembled or disassembled fishing rod which facilitates the storage and carrying thereof.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Various forms of enclosures are known in the art for encasing fishing tackle. In certain prior art arrangements only the reel portion of the assembled rod and reel is enclosed as in the Wycosky U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,478 and the Breithhaupt U.S. Pat. No. 2,869,277. In other arrangements typified by the Wright U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,190 and the Geisler U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,144 both the rod and reel are enshrouded by an outer covering or case. Except for the above-mentioned Wright Patent, each of the cases described in the cited patents comprise a flexible cloth or fabric sack into which all or a portion of the fishing rod and reel combination may be inserted. In the Wright Patent, the casing is inflexible and includes a bottle-shaped portion for housing the reel ends of the assembled unit and an elongated tubular member surrounding the shafts of the enclosed fishing rods.
The casing devices represented by the above-mentioned patents suffer individually or cumulatively from a number of drawbacks. For example, the cases of the prior art tend to be somewhat bulky and include water absorbent materials which are difficult to dry once they become wet. Furthermore, the fabric type covers are subject to rot, mold or mildew and in some instances are costly to manufacture and must be tailored to fit specific sizes and types of rods.